Plans For Boutique Hotel Go Before Doylestown Borough Planners

DOYLESTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Plans for a boutique hotel, restaurant and event space are back on the table in Doylestown Borough.

This week, land development attorney Kelly McGowan presented updated plans for a four-story hotel at the site of the former borough hall at 57 West Court Street.

The building was torn down earlier this summer to make way for the hotel project. The building had served as the borough hall and police station for decades.

During her presentation before the town planners, McGowan said plans now call for 47 rooms, up from the original 32 rooms; a 100-seat event venue, reduced through a court-stipulated agreement; and a restaurant that has not changed in size.

“This has been a project that has already been through multiple levels of approvals and reviews,” McGowan told the planning commission.

One of those reviews included an appearance before the zoning hearing board, which granted a height variance allowing for a four-story hotel provided there would be no rooftop deck or outside rooftop use. The board, however, denied their request for a parking variance, requiring the developer to provide the required parking on site.

McGowan told the planners that many of the outstanding issues are “will comply,” meaning the developer has agreed to the recommendations of the borough’s professionals and its boards and commissions, which have jurisdiction over land development plans.

According to the borough's planning and zoning director, Karen Hyland, the plan complies with the zoning board's decision and a court-stipulated settlement that was reached. In addition, it complies with the borough's zoning ordinance. "That is not up for debate. It's in compliance," she said.

Another Court Street view of the proposed hotel. (Contributed)

The former site of the Doylestown Borough Hall and Police Station at 57 West Court Street. (Jeff Werner)

Much of the discussion during the meeting centered on parking, traffic flow, ingress and egress to the site, and the proposed closure of the Harvey Avenue and Court Street entrances to the parking area.

The revised plans for the site call for just one entrance and exit to the hotel's parking lot, which would be off of Hamilton. Exiting traffic from the site back to Court Street would be limited to a left turn on Hamilton controlled by a concrete "bump out."

An existing driveway between Villa Capri and the hotel would be replaced by a sidewalk. The building will also extend a little wider, said the developer’s professionals. Also eliminated would be the Harvey Avenue entrance to deter traffic from exiting onto the residential one-way street and to create a more manageable parking area.

The parking lot behind the building is proposed to include 76 spaces, which meets the zoning requirements for the project. Thirty-five of the spaces would be located on the ground floor of the hotel, where 11 parking lifts will be used to increase parking counts.

Due to the constraints of the parking lot, parking will be valet and parking lot attendant-controlled 24 hours a day, according to McGowan. A garage-level elevator will be available inside the hotel to take guests to the Court Street lobby. They can also access the front by using a sidewalk next to Capri.

After listening to the concerns of residents and hearing from the applicant, the planning commission tabled a recommendation on the plan until its September meeting. The table will give the applicant time to address several issues raised by planners during the meeting, including employee parking and concerns with vehicles entering and exiting the hotel's parking lot on Hamilton via Court.